There is such a large crowd of witnesses all around us:
All the folks that ever have attended this church throughout its 81 year history – as well as all the saints from all the ages.
All assembled in the gallery cheering and rooting for you and for me and for all of us.
Not only do you and I have a race to run, but we need to make arrangements to continue the tradition for the others needing encouragement to run the race that are coming up after us –
like all those who went before us here in this church did.
Just before these words from our scripture, the 11th chapter of Hebrews gives many dynamic examples of Old Testament men and women who did great works for God by faith.
“By faith Noah . . . built an ark . . .
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going . . .”
Then the 12th chapter begins with these words that give us our text for today: “THEREFORE, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
It’s a vivid picture.
In the grandstand of our lives there are cheerleaders: Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Rahab, and other Old Testament heroes,
as well as Paul, Peter, and leaders of the New Testament church.
And there are our loved ones, family and friends, who have gone before us.
The message is, the reality is, we are not alone in our faith journey.
No matter how discouraging the events of our lives are,
we can make it through with the encouragement of those who have gone before.
Such a large crowd of witnesses is all around us!
Some of you know that Suzanne and I adopted a dog a couple of years ago.
This dog was about 4 and half years old when he came to our house having been rescued off the streets somewhere in New York.
The dog obviously has been abused and is very fearful of any and all people – except us.
He knows who feeds him.
He knows who keeps his warm in the winter and provides a place to sleep and offers companionship and a safe environment.
Now, he thinks it is his job to protect us from all intruders and suspected terrorists –
a list which includes any and all who have the nerve to drive down the cul-de-sac in front of our house, or walk or ride a bike near our house.
Now, the thing is, he has a very keen sense of hearing.
That dog hears things long before I do – and sometimes he hears things I don’t.
Some time ago, I happened upon a BBC show about dogs on one of the public broadcasting stations.
It had a segment there on what and how dogs see – and showed the viewers a screen that let us in on just what a dog can and cannot see.
Apparently, dogs don’t see in all the colors that we do,
and dogs don’t see all the fine detail that we do,
but dogs have a more panoramic view than we do.
They have a much wider field of vision – about two times what you and I can see without moving our eyes.
But, the real unusual part of how a dog sees, is that although they cannot see the fine detail, they can detect very slight movement – anywhere in their field of vision.
So, they see a rabbit and they are off after the rabbit.
Fact is, they don’t know it’s a rabbit.
What they see is a figure in their field of vision that moved and they can pin-point it with great accuracy.
Whether it’s instinct or faith, the dog takes off after that movement – not really knowing what he is chasing.
Likewise what and how a dog hears was of great interest to me.
You and I hear a whoosh of car going by.
A dog can discern individual sounds that make up that whoosh sound you and I hear.
They can hear that the car is missing on cylinders 2 and 4,
has a loose wheel cover on the right front tire,
and a slight rattle of the radio antenna slipping in the wind,
and a hundred other individual sounds that make up the whoosh you and I hear as the car goes by.
Not only do they hear these individual sounds, they can discern which sounds are associated with their owners car – the sounds of the neighbor’s cars, and the UPS truck, and all kinds of other vehicles that pass by.
My dog hears sounds I simply do not hear.
Just because we cannot hear a sound does not mean that it does not exist.
The fact that we cannot hear it says more about our limitations than it does about the sound.
So it is with things of the spirit.
There are realities that are perceived only by those in tune with God’s Spirit.
One of these is that great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, providing us with encouragement and strength.
Sometime back, the magazine RUNNER’S WORLD, mentioned a unique phenomenon which they called, “The Bislett Effect.”
The Bislett Effect is named for Bislett Stadium in Oslo, Norway.
More than 50 track and field records have been broken over the years at Bislett.
Apparently, no other stadium can boast of this kind of record setting.
And it’s not because of the frigid weather in Norway.
Runners do not run faster just to keep warm, though that might make sense to some of us.
And it’s not the altitude.
Wind resistance is no different in Oslo than in most other cities.
The secret seems to be the track itself.
It is a narrow, six lane track, and the stands that surround it are very steep.
According to RUNNER’S WORLD, when 21,000 fans all scream, “Go, go!” in this kind of up close and personal setting, you run faster.
The crowd forces you to keep your rhythm and push harder for one more stretch, for one more turn.
It’s like being surrounded by a cloud of witnesses.
Such faith helps us be all that we can be.
Such a large crowd of witnesses is all around us cheering for us.
We can make it, whether it is a crisis with our health,
a crisis within our family,
a crisis in our economy,
a failure on the job – whatever it might be.
This is the Gospel.
We can go on.
We follow in a long line of people who have persevered and been victorious.
Faith helps us be all we can be.
Faith helps us endure all we must endure.
And faith reminds us that we do not live our lives alone.
There is One who is with us.
And there is such a large crowd of witnesses all around us!
That’s what this church is about.
That’s what our faith is about.
That’s what we have here –
a connecting place, really:
where we can connect with others,
where we can connect with the world around us,
where we can connect with God,
where we can connect with the large crowd of witnesses that have gone before us.
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